Moving to Maryland (Baltimore, Silver Spring, Ellicott City: section 8, real estate, apartment complexes)

[nj08]

Thank you all for your opinions on Maryland. It will really help me in making a decision on where to move there. It seems like Silver Spring and Laurel would be too expensive from everyone's opinion. Just a couple of more questions. How about Rockville? I really don't know anything about Maryland. I've only been to Waldorf. And that seemed nice. I am planning to relocate my job which will be in Arlington VA. I heard Ellicott CIty is nice and affordable. I'm looking for good schools for my son and somewhere safe and nice where it wouldn't be too far to commute to Arlington. Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks..

[marylandur]

The commute from Maryland to Arlington can be difficult. Why do you want to move to Maryland? You might want to consider living in Northern Virginia. Check out Park Fairfax, on the edge of Alexandria for relatively affordable condos - close to Arlington. Burke, Va. to Arlington has various buses that run to Pentagon. But, long commute. So, you have to weigh your commuting time to price.

Arlington itself has some very interesting areas to live - great restaurants, grocery stores, bars, movie theaters etc... and is very close to D.C. Ballston and Clarendon are very interesting neighborhoods. Also, you are close to C&O canal, Potomac river etc... for recreation.

If you have to live in MD, consider south Silver Spring, near Georgia Av/16th St area (i.e. Forest Glen and surrounding areas). Downtown Takoma Park area is very cool place to live.

How much you looking to spend for a home? Prices are outrageous. Prices several years after real estate boom are from $500K to close to $700K (house) and up. Condos are from a few hundred grand to 300K and up....Laurel is very affortable relative to rest of the area. Also, check out Calverton. Ellicott City is a little far away from Arlington. Anywhere in Baltimore area is a lot cheaper than D.C. area for same quality of neighborhood and dwelling.

Best public school systems in areas tend to be in most expensive areas. No way around that, but you can choose wisely. For example, Olney, Md., North Arlington, McClean, Va., lots of Howard County has outstanding school systems.

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Thank you all for your opinions on Maryland. It will really help me in making a decision on where to move there. It seems like Silver Spring and Laurel would be too expensive from everyone's opinion. Just a couple of more questions. How about Rockville? I really don't know anything about Maryland. I've only been to Waldorf. And that seemed nice. I am planning to relocate my job which will be in Arlington VA. I heard Ellicott CIty is nice and affordable. I'm looking for good schools for my son and somewhere safe and nice where it wouldn't be too far to commute to Arlington. Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks..

[nj08]

My boyfriend has always wanted to move to MD. I myself never thought about it but since he wil be getting a job there, it is in the future. Hopefully by this summer. I've heard good and bad things about Silver Spring and Laurel and am a little confused on what area would be best. I hear the crime rate in Silver Spring and Laurel is bad. Is that true. Same is a big concern for me. I want to live somewhere nice but I also want to afford it. How long have you lived in MD? I would be relocating my job to Arlington VA. I work in non-profit and he will have to take a pay cut. My boyfriend most likely would work in MD or DC area. I know MD, DC, and VA are all relatively close. Together our salary should br around $75K a year.. Which isn't that high. Is that good to live in MD? Preferbably to buy a condo or townhouse? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[marylandur]

I have lived in Maryland over 35 years. 75K is going to require some compromises in your home search. But, don't be so worried about crime. The vast majority of family, friends I know have never had any serious crime done against them in this area. I live in Silver Spring and while not being as yuppie as Bethesda or Great Falls or North Arlington, it is a hell of a lot cheaper. I would have loved to live in McClean or North Arlington, when I used to live in Virginia, but wanted a detached house and Silver Spring was half the price.

75K is still a nice income compared to lots of folks struggling to get by on 30 to 40K incomes througout the U.S.

Get a good real estate agent who knows the area to help you. Don't get a home here blind or you could end up in a dump of a neighborhood. After you do some searching or at least talking to a real estate agent on the phone, post here what they recommend (i.e. areas, cost of condos) and I can give you my opinion on the areas - pluses and minuses.

Go for a used condo. Don't even think about a townhome or single family house on 75K income. Commuting is utter hell unless you live near a metro or have a reasonable distance to drive. I would rather live in a tiny efficiency condo and have a short drive or metro ride to work than live in a palace where you spend 90 to 120 minutes each way getting to work. The traffic here is right behind New York, LA and Chicago. It is as bad as Boston traffic. Obviously there are tradeoffs on this and a lot of soul searching for you to do.

[nj08]

Thank you for you reply marylandur. I heard that you can get to metro right there in Silver Spring. That is where we are looking.Which would be easy for me to commute to Arlington, VA. We would definately rent a condo first before buying. Can you please tell me what areas has the least crime and which has the most, since you live there and know about the area. My boyfriend is looking for a job there now and he will move there first. Then I will follow.. We are planning to hopefully be settled there by this summer.

[marylandur]

You are welcome, nj08.

Here are my 1st choices:
a. Arlington, Va.:Clarendon, Ballston areas - condos, apartments close by and great night life with clubs featuring live bands, all kinds of ethnic restaurants, good grocery stores, cafes etc... Lively area. Rated #1. Used to be a dump
for many years. It was developed as a "cool" urban area near metro.

b. Bethesda, Md. - near Bethesda Metro - lots of restaurants and movie theater, night life etc... There ARE old apartments near by, MIGHT be affortable. Worth checking out. There is even a bike path here.

c. Chevy Chase - near Western Avenue - Friendship Heights - great area to live in. Probably unaffortable for you.

If the above prove too expensive, I would move in an apartment or condo here in this order of preference:

1. Grub Road, Silver Spring - wonderful area, a few miles from Silver Spring Metro. A health food store, a great relatively cheap restaurant and friendly people and town houses, condos, apartments. You are near Rock Creek Park.

2. I would try and live in one of the apartments/condos on Arcola Avenue in Kempmill in front of "Wheaton Regional Park", which is a gem to visit - go for walks, bike rides, walk through lots of woods, go to Brookside Gardens - miles of paths. Also, there is a grocery store and strip mall right there.

3. Burnside Drive in Rockville, Maryland (near Silver Spring) Very safe at the condos and apartments on this road and surrounding roads at relatively inexpensive prices for Montgomery County. It is right next to the Northern part of Silver Spring, Maryland. You can drive either to the Glenmont Metro or Twinbrook Metro stations (about 3 miles either way). I believe this is your most inexpensive choice, unless you go out to Olney or beyond. It is NOT as fun as living on Grub Rd.

4. Another place you can check out is Olney, Maryland. It is very safe anywhere (fairly large area) in that town. Lots of condos you can rent or buy. But, the drive might be a little longer (i.e. 10 minutes more) to the Glenmont metro, if the traffic is heavy. Not as bland as Burnside Drive and surrounding roads, but a lot farther out (another 10 minutes or so each way more is 20 minutes more commuting each day).

5. "Iffy" is Takoma Park, Md. near the metro. People sometimes get mugged or assaulted walking back and forth to the metro. Doesn't happen that much, but enough to make people a little wary. Most the houses around there are in perfectly safe neighborhoods, but the condos or apartments are a mixed bag. There are a few apartment complexes overlooking Rock Creek near Takoma Park. They are a mixed bag as far as crime goes. But, beautiful surroundings.

6. More "iffy", but still doable if you look carefully at the individual apartment or condo building in Glenmont - I would check out "Privacy World" in Glenmont, Maryland, right next to the Glenmont Metro. Looks very quiet and you are walking distance to the metro and the walk is very safe. The location is fantastic - right next to the metro. But, the immediate area is kind of dumpy. I believe it will steadily improve.

7. Right next to Silver Spring metro has various apartments and condos. A mixed bag - you need to be very careful, since some of them are high crime - nothing like bad parts of D.C., but you need to be careful where you move.

8. College Park, Md. - too far from metro (1/2 to 1 mile, I think).

9. I would not live in Germantown or Gaithersburg in a condo or townhouse, unless you have a family (great soccer and sports complex with driving range etc.. in Germantown) since it is so bland and far from metro, you might as well live closer in unless you are going to buy a single family house.

10. This is in Virginia, but also, check out Pentagon City - there are some high rises there which are very affortable. It is in Virginia, but short walk to metro and a huge shopping mall there with restaurants in the mall and outside and lots of
stores etc...

11. If you can deal with not being close to metro, check out McCarthur Blvd, in D.C. near Georgetown - lots of old condos/apartments. Very nice area.

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Thank you for you reply marylandur. I heard that you can get to metro right there in Silver Spring. That is where we are looking. Which would be easy for me to commute to Arlington, VA. We would definately rent a condo first before buying. Can you please tell me what areas has the least crime and which has the most, since you live there and know about the area. My boyfriend is looking for a job there now and he will move there first. Then I will follow.. We are planning to hopefully be settled there by this summer.

[bootinka]

Dear marylandur:

I have read your post and you are very knowledgeable about Maryland. I was wondering if you can help me with making a right decision about where to live. I use to live in the East side of Maryland some years ago and that was last moment, so I didn't have time to do any research I had to make the most of it. I now live in South Carolina attending school and I will be graduating in the Spring of 2008, which doesn't give me much time to find what I am looking for.

I have two kids ages 10 and going 3. My 10 year old son is mild mentally delayed with a second diagnosis of mild autisim. My 2 year old is fine thank God. I am a single mother who is going into a career with an associates degree of Administrative Management. I am lookinf for affordable housing do you know of any programs (maybe section 8 in a decent area and I am looking for decent schools in the county & good job contacts that want be to far away from the city.

I know this is a tall order, but I have been researching this and my head still hurts because I want to make the right choices for my two little boys. When I lived in the city it was bad because the school that my oldest son went to was bad overall and he didn't get what he needed. I would really appreciate someone with more insight then me. You can even reach me at my e-mail adddress at bettywilson25@hotmail.com you title the Re: as Relocating to Maryland.

P.S. If anyone else has anything to have I would also be appreciative as well.

Thank you so much


bootinka